Who's Going to Fix This Mess?

I went down to Florida last weekend to the Club for Growth conference. The Club for Growth is pro-growth group, and I think we are all in favor of that – we aren't going to shrink our way out of this mess, now are we?

I wanted to find out more about what the heck we can do to get more great $100K+ jobs in this country. And I met with Senators, Governors and members of Congress to ask them "Who's going to fix this mess?"


Me with Senete Minority Whip Jon Kyl. Boy, he has a great smile, doesn't he? I guess I'll have to practice!

Among others, I met with Senator Jon Kyl – he's a Republican from Arizona – and I asked him my question: "Senator Kyl, who's going to fix this mess?"

His answer?

"You are."

And you knew that was coming, didn't you? After all the big speeches, the bonuses and the blowouts and the bailouts, who's going to be left to clean up this mess?

It's us. The members of TheLadders.com.

TheLadders is a community of $100K+ employees. We're not the ones with the big yachts and million-dollar offices and private jets (though, perhaps, someday we'd like to be!) We're the hard-working folks, making between $100,000 to $500,000, who actually orchestrate the work of the country...

We're the managers at Fortune 1000 companies, the CMOs, CFOs and CTOs of start-ups, and the Java developers, Sarbanes-Oxley experts and database marketers of the United States...

And we know that after the hoopla and the hoorays, and the "whoops!" and the whys, that we are going to be the people who have to clean up this mess.

After all, who's running the strategic planning meetings, and the Six Sigma initiatives, and the server virtualization projects, and the "Hey vendors, it's time for you to cut your prices 10%" efforts? It's not the guys in the corporate boardrooms.

It's us. The 2.8 million subscribers to TheLadders.com.

And the only way this great country is going to get out of this mess is if we lead it.

And, after reminding Senator Kyl that TheLadders is a strictly non-partisan newsletter, I asked him what we can specifically do to help.

He answered:

1. Get involved politically. Whatever party you're in, get active.


2. Get involved through civic groups. Whether you're a CPA, or a member of the bar, or a concerned tech executive, or just a patriotic citizen from ${location}, get active through your civil, professional, or industry associations.


3. But most of all, Senator Kyl urged, don't wait for Washington. This country wasn't built from Washington, and it sure isn't going to be saved by Washington. It's going to be the efforts, and the toil, and the work, of the real leaders of the country – people like you who can make a difference every day by making your companies and your communities stronger and better.

Well, folks, that seemed like pretty good advice to me, so I wanted to share it with you.

I know you'll do your part, and you can count on me, and the 325 friends you have here at TheLadders.com, to do ours: we're working every day to find you more great $100K+ jobs.

Happy hunting this week, let's get this mess fixed!

Warmest regards,

Marc Cenedella
Founder & CEO
TheLadders.com, Inc.